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13 ON YOUR SIDE
Jan. 27, 2022

Because of Michigan’s cold winter temperatures, a District Health Department is issuing special guidance on how to properly prepare United States Postal Service delivered COVID-19 tests to ensure proper use.

Earlier in January, the Biden administration launched a program that allows Americans to request free at-home COVID-19 tests. The program lets every American household request four at-home COVID-19 tests to be delivered by USPS for free.

If ordered early on in the program, the tests may be arriving any day but recent below-freezing temperatures are causing some concern on whether the tests will work properly.

The tests need to be performed in an environment that is between 59⁰F and 86⁰F to ensure proper results. If the tests are delivered while the temperature is below freezing, District Health Department #10 has issued special guidance before the test is used:

• Bring the package inside your home and leave it unopened at room temperature for at least two hours before opening it.
• Once the package is at room temperature, you may open it and perform the test according to the authorized instructions for use.
• As long as the test line(s) appear as described in the instructions, you can be confident that the test is performing as it should.
• If the line(s) do not appear in the correct location(s) and within the correct time as shown in the test instructions when you perform the test, then the results may not be accurate, and a new test is needed to get an accurate result.

The free at-home COVID-19 tests can be ordered through USPS at special.usps.com/testkits.

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